Shikasta (1979) by Doris Lessing is a speculative fiction novel. The book is the first of the series Canopus in Argos, and portraits the final days of our planet. The title is actually the name of a stricken and war-ridden Earth that Johor, an emissary from the benevolent Canopians, try to save from doom. A visionary and sometimes allegoric story, Shikasta is influenced by philosophy and spiritual themes like Sufism and the Old Testament. Doris Lessing won the 2007 Nobel Prize for Literature.
